The surprise "find" of the year so far: Darren Paul Fisher's enchanting, original FREQUENCIES

This new film, as it moves along, sprightly and efficient, may remind you of everything from Primer, Pi and Pontypool to Never Let Me Go and 1984. That's quite a range, I know, and in the end, FREQUENCIES, doesn't necessarily rise above any of those fine and groundbreaking works, but it makes its own mark as an original sci-fi rom-com with a theme that questions whether we humans act as sentient beings who possess free will or are simply machines that can be persuaded to do the bidding of -- guess who? -- yeah, that one per cent.

In fact, how the film's writer/director, Darren Paul Fisher (shown at right) chooses to present the powers-that-be (or their representatives) is especially clever and interesting. But then, just about everything in this film is clever and interesting and simply beautifully assembled and acted. Other than Rob the Mob, Frequencies is now my biggest movie pleasure of the year -- with not a trace of guilt (as in guilty pleasure) to be found. Because TrustMovies had not heard of of Mr. Fisher previously, nor of anyone else connected to the film (including its excellent cast), I assumed this must be his and their "first time out." Wrong. The film's lead actors have made a number of other movies, and beginning back in 2001, Fisher himself has written and directed Inbetweeners and then Popcorn (2007), neither of which caused much fuss.
Frequencies surely will.

Taking place in either some future period (or maybe one of those alternate universes filmmakers seem to love), Fisher's tale tells of a time when one's "frequency" (which seems to be some kind of physics terms as used here), like one's IQ in our own time, is used to predict what level in life one can achieve.

Class is preserved via the fact that low frequencies can never hope to mingle with their high-frequency betters -- which makes it not a little difficult for our two kids -- who are immediately drawn to each other but kept separate, for, of course, their own good and that of society's at large. Indeed, when they do try to connect, furniture rumbles, the earth begins to shake, and who knows what else might happen when frequencies mix.

The movie follows these kids -- Zak and Marie -- from childhood (two photos up) through adolescence (above) to young adulthood (below) as they and one of Zak's best friends, Theo, try various projects and experiments to make the relationship work.

The movie is by turns funny and sweet, poetic and sad as it offers up science and philosophy, music and words, in a world that so closely resembles our own as to be perfectly understandable yet just out of reach. There has not been a movie in quite some time that hits its audience so firmly via the imagination, mind and heart.

And, oh, those performances! The two sets of kids are fine, but the young adult versions of Zak and Marie, played by Eleanor Wyld (above) and Daniel Fraser (below) are simply stupendous. It's rare enough to see young actors so vitally attuned to the moment. And when these moments are full of oddity and swift, sudden changes, it must be even more difficult to convey. Thanks to Wyld and Fraser and to the filmmaker's splendid use of their wonderfully expressive faces, we live through every one of these changes to the fullest.

Enchantingly smart and stylish in its approach to 1984-type mind control and the possibility of love, Frequencies uses science, sound waves and even pronunciation (shades of Pontypool!) to marvelous effect. In one scene alone, the slight change in the color palette speaks volumes and produces wonders.

The movie, intellectually stimulating as well as romantic, will keep you riveted -- with pleasure as much as suspense and wonder. And if the journey is more spectacular than the destination, I am happy to report that there is indeed a destination. Even if it the solution doesn't actually solve much, that may be the point of this witty, charming, ambitious piece of popular entertainment/art.

From FilmBuff (that very-smart-about-independent-film distributor, the entire existence of which is more than paid back by giving us this one movie), via the U.K. and Australia, and running 105 minutes, Frequencies releases in theaters this Friday, May 23. Here in NYC it's at the Cinema Village, at the Los Feliz 3 in Los Angeles (only on Thursday, May 22), and the Loraine Palace in Cleveland. Next week it'll open in Dallas, Houston, Denver, Atlanta, and San Francisco, with a wider rollout to follow. For those of you not living in the aforementioned cities, the film will hit VOD and iTunes this Thursday, May 22. So you've simply no excuse not to see it.

UPDATE! Frequencies is now available to stream on Netflix. 

So there's absolutely no reason for you not to see it.

Mark Levinson/David Kaplan's PARTICLE FEVER: Physics made moving, important, inspiring & fun

If you, like me, too often find yourself angry and depressed upon finishing a documentary film, no matter how well-conceived and -executed it may be, nor whether its subject matter tackles the environment (Last Call at the Oasis), politics/politicians (The Best Government Money Can Buy?), corporate malfeasance (Blackfish) or plain and simple(minded) and seemingly everlasting injustice (West of Memphis), then do let me recommend a new documentary that may very well leave you floating a few feet above the ground.

Instead of stupid, nasty and venal politicians and corporate shills bent on lining their own pockets and letting the rest of the world go to rot, in PARTICLE FEVER, the thrilling and joyous new documentary about -- yes! -- physics, physicists and the Higgs Boson particle, director Mark Levinson (shown at right) and producer/ performer-in-the-film David Kaplan (below, left), both physicists and now filmmakers, show us folk from all over the world and sometimes from countries you would hardly imagine working together (Iran and Israel, Russia and the USA) doing exactly that in order to unlock the mysteries of being and the universe.

This movie will, as few others I've seen, make you proud of the human race -- or at least a small part of it: those scientists who are able to put aside some of the innate negative qualities we humans all possess in order to do something worthwhile for the world. What this entails is, among other things, constructing what we're told is the largest machine ever built, a 7-story tall LHC (that's "Large Hadron Collider," which is shown below while in construction, and further below when finished).

This LHC may strike you, as it did me, like something belonging to one of those mad scientists seen in an early James Bond movie. Except that, unlike those gorgeously pristine set pieces, which those dastardly villains are going to use to conquer the world, this one looks rather "home-made."

We meet some of the folk who've designed and/or made the LHC and will now use it to try to prove the existence of the Higgs Boson particle (more popularly known -- and rather stupidly, I think -- as the "god particle," which set journalists' hearts aflutter back around 2008 or 09, when word of this project reached the media). Back then, some naysayers warned that if scientists used this great machine, it could bring about a sort of black hole that would swallow the world. Well, they did, and it didn't.

The point here (part of it anyway) is to see if physicists can "find" and sort of quantify this Higgs Boson particle, which up to now had been "theorized" but not proven. How they try to do this and what they achieve becomes the meat of the movie, which introduces us to a number of interesting, gifted, and pretty charming "workers" who are collaborating on the project and are happy to share their input. (That's Italy's Fabiola Gianotti, speaking with Kaplan, above, and America's Monica Dunford, emerging from the floor, below.)

Because Levinson and Kaplan are both physicists, as well as -- considering the results they achieve in this movie -- good filmmakers, they manage to make all the theory and practice shown and explained pretty understandable to us peons in the world of science. They also lard their film with enough "human interest" and interesting human beings to keep us attentive and engaged.

Beginning in 2007, they take us up to 2012, when what needs to happen at last does. Along the way, however, we get everything from a little politics (there was actually a project similar to this one here in the U.S. and we see how "seriously" certain members of our Congress -- Republicans, of course -- took that project) to a little history of our participants, some physics theory and the run-up to the big day that will show the world something hoped for... or perhaps completely not: order vs chaos. (That's too simple, I know -- but then, I'm no scientist.)

The filmmakers mange to create some genuine suspense as the climax approaches, even as they are also making would-be, possible physicists of us all. I found myself realizing how incredibly "uncurious" I have been through most of my life, and then grateful for how very curious were these many scientists. Mostly though, I think you'll come away from this wonderful little movie feeling gratitude that these people from all over the world could come together to effect a project like this one -- leaving behind their own country's crass and crappy politicians stewing in their smelly, fermented juices -- to help science make some real progress.
(In the final section of the film, we get a nod to Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams, along with the thought that perhaps our physicists are the cave painters of today -- thus beautifully equating the importance of art and science and society's enormous need for them both.)

In the very classy credit sequence for this film, you may notice names like Walter Murch -- yes, that Walter Murch -- as editor) and Robert Miller (for music), both of whose work adds extra luster to this captivating documentary. Particle Fever, from Abramorama and Bond 360 and running 99 minutes, opens this Wednesday, March 5, in New York City for a two-week exclusive run at Film Forum. In the days and weeks to come, it will open all across the country. To view all currently scheduled playdates, with cities and theaters, simply click here.

NOTE: In-Person Events at Film Forum: 

Wednesday, March 5, 6:00 show--Director Mark Levinson 

    and Producer David Kaplan with physicists from the film 

Friday, March 7, 8:00 show--Mark Levinson 

Saturday, March 8, 3:15 show--Mark Levinson 

with physicists from the film